


A Dire Situation

by lycanvirgin (phoenixzeal)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Frostbite, Gen, M/M, Minor Character Death, Pre-Slash, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-29
Updated: 2014-09-29
Packaged: 2018-02-19 05:57:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2377340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixzeal/pseuds/lycanvirgin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on a prompt I got on tumblr: <i>Sterek. GoT au please and thank you. :)</i></p>
<p>"The cold was no longer biting at his toes or fingers. Not because he was finally becoming warm, but because he'd completely lost his feeling in them. He didn't know how long it had been since his toes and fingers went numb but he knew that it was only a matter of time before his feet and hands would follow. At that point he would no longer be able to continue."</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Dire Situation

**Author's Note:**

> I've asked for prompts to help get rid of my writer's block. I wrote this as a stream of (my own) consciousness thing directly into a text post on tumblr. Except for being spell checked, this hasn't been edited so I apologise for any mistakes. Thank you to [goodoceangonewrong](http://goodoceangonewrong.tumblr.com/) for the prompt!

The cold was no longer biting at his toes or fingers. Not because he was finally becoming warm, but because he'd completely lost his feeling in them. He didn't know how long it had been since his toes and fingers went numb but he knew that it was only a matter of time before his feet and hands would follow. At that point he would no longer be able to continue.

Already the thick layer of snow looked inviting. He knew that he would be warmer if he made himself a little cave in the snow to curl up in; he also knew that if he fell asleep he would never awake again.

Finding a way past the Wall had been difficult and also the most foolish thing Stiles had done in his life, which was saying a lot since he spent a lot of his time doing foolish things. That was what his father had told him many times. Now Stiles missed hearing his father's voice, even when it had been filled with disappointment. 

The year had been difficult and Stiles' father's health had already been poor. His heart hadn't been able to handle the hard work and the cold any more and one day a few months past it had stopped beating. 

Stiles had stayed at their small farm at first and worked hard to keep it in good shape. He was sixteen and a man; he should be able to do any work that his father had done. It had turned out not to be easy because though his father had been a respected man and capable of defending his land and animals, Stiles was not. 

He'd been driven out by men who had set their hungry eyes on the animals and crops. If Stiles had not run away he would surely have been killed. So that was why he was now wandering beyond the Wall, stumbling as he waded through the thick snow and lost more and more feeling in his limbs. He had nothing left to lose.

Stiles' mother had been a wildling, that's what his father had always told him. He did not know how she had made it past the Wall but she had and they had fallen in love. They were very happy together but she was a free spirit that not even love could tame. She was unable to settle down and adapt to the life on the farm and she had left to go North of the Wall once more.

There was no real hope of ever finding her. Stiles did not know her name or where wildlings lived more precisely. He just had to do something. Without the farm he had nothing to his name. Thieving was a risky business and he knew that it had only been a matter of time before he was caught. So he'd taken what he could and found a way past the Wall, only condemning himself to death here with nothing other than trees and snow to bear witness.

Stiles sank to his knees in the deep snow and then fell on his side. The snow felt almost warm against his cheek as he closed his eyes and slipped into darkness.

***

He awoke to a burning pain in his feet and hands. It felt like they where on fire and he groaned weakly, twisting and turning to free himself from the blankets he was tangled in. Then he stopped twisting only to struggle into a sitting position and looked around with wide eyes. He was in a cave. It wasn't big by any means but it wasn't small either. If he'd be standing, he could stand in an upright position and still have some room between his head and the ceiling. It was only a few paces in width, however, and the small cave opening was not far away. 

A fire in a pit in the middle of the cave spread warmth and Stiles was wrapped in several furs and blankets. To his shame he realized that he had been undressed and that his wet and cold clothes were spread out on the other side of the fire to dry. Whoever had saved him must have seen him naked.

Who had saved him? Could it be a Wildling? Or perhaps it was a ranger from the Night's Watch. Before Stiles had any more time to think, he saw movement at the cave opening. He gasped in fear as an enormous wolf walked into the cave, completely unafraid. Stiles didn't think that a wolf that size would have anything to be afraid of. 

The wolf walked closer and its black fur shone in the firelight. Its eyes were so blue that they were almost glowing and as Stiles looked into them he did not become more frightened. Instead he felt himself slowly relax as he thought himself to see kindness and wisdom in the wolf's eyes. 

He had heard of direwolves in tales meant to scare children and make them behave, but in those tales they were always ferocious and terrifying creatures. This direwolf simply nudged at a bag next to where Stiles sat. Stiles gingerly took it and opened it to find it be his own, still with some of the food he had rationed to last for as long as possible beyond the Wall.

Next, the direwolf nudged at the waterskin that had been beside the bag and its tongue lolled as it watched Stiles take careful sips to wet his mouth and quench some of his thirst. 

"Did you save me?" Stiles asked, finally able to speak again though his voice was raspy from cold and disuse. "That's impossible. You don't have opposable thumbs. Wolves can't make fires... unless you can somehow do it with your mind." He squinted at the wolf and could swear that it was rolling its eyes. 

Then the wolf got to its feet again and ran out of the cave. Stiles called out for it not to go but it did not listen and disappeared into the night. As he waited for the wolf to come back, Stiles ate a little and drank some more before he lay down and hardly had time to make a decision to sleep before he was already dreaming.

***

The next time Stiles woke up, the wolf was there. Stiles looked at it through barely open eyes and could therefore not make sense of what he was seeing as its body seemed to bend in impossible ways and the fur sank into its skin. By the time Stiles had rubbed his eyes and properly opened them, there was a man sitting where the wolf had been.

The man turned around to face Stiles and Stiles had to stifle a gasp at the surge that went through his body upon the sight of the man's face. He was what Stiles would call beautiful, even though it was not common to say so about men. His appearance was noble almost, despite the fact that his hair was tousled and his face and body were smeared with dirt and what looked disturbingly like blood. Stiles found himself blushing at the man's gaze. 

"Are you feeling better now?" the man asked, his voice softer than Stiles would have expected it to be.

"I didn't know that direwolves were also men," was what came out of Stiles' mouth. 

"Some are women." The corner of the man's lips tilted upwards in an amused smile. "I'm Derek."

"I'm sex... I mean I'm Stiles! Oh gods." Stiles buried his face in his hands and wished for the ground to open up and swallow him. 

Derek laughed and the sound was beautiful enough for Stiles to lift his head as he wanted to see the face of someone laughing so wonderfully. He was almost blinded by Derek's bright smile and a shiver went through his body when he saw Derek's canine teeth which seemed sharper than a human's.

"Tell me, Stiles, what are you doing this far North?"

Stiles found the words pouring out of him as Derek looked at him intently, listening to everything he said with a kind of patience that no one else had had with him before. It was easy and comfortable to sit there in a cave with Derek, a direwolf, and tell him his life story. He thought that Derek felt it too, whatever it was between them. Perhaps this would really be the start of something new. 

***

They set off on a search for Stiles' mother together.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me (and prompt me) on [tumblr](http://lycanvirgin.tumblr.com).


End file.
